Internal Emails Expose Ripple's Elaborate Bitcoin Smear Campaign

input: BTC-targeted emails from 2018, submitted in the ongoing case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), are making rounds of social media.

Newly released internal emails from Ripple, submitted in the ongoing case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), are making rounds of social media. The emails, part of a broader batch of documents from 2018, reveal that the blockchain firm’s team actively discussed promoting the narrative that Bitcoin is a China-controlled currency.

One of the recently cited leaked emails, titled “4) China + Bitcoin,’ contains the message: “This feels similar to what Brad and [Redacted] already say publicly about Bitcoin being run by China.”

Another part summarizes a plan to create an “insights post” differentiating XRP from other cryptocurrencies: “ We could pitch this out as it would get a ton of play as ‘Ripple’s Response to [Redacted].’ Note: This feels like it would run opposite to our current promotion efforts around exchanges. As of right now, we have told all current or future exchanges that we are not able to provide promotion help.”

Moreover, email correspondence between the Ripple team dated July 19, 2018, indicates a straightforward discussion about how best to articulate Bitcoin’s perceived centralization problems.

One team member noted: “How is the bitcoin/china story different than the one we are already working on with [Redacted]? Are we willing to put someone on the record now to specifically call out bitcoin and ethereum?” The emails emphasize that “China + Bitcoin” was a subject matter at Ripple, apparently aimed at spotlighting Bitcoin’s alleged vulnerabilities tied to Chinese mining pools to champion XRP as “decentralized”.

These newly surfaced emails come after US President Donald Trump announced the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. As ZyCrypto reported, Ripple has aggressively lobbied for a multi-asset strategic reserve instead of a Bitcoin-only one — a stance that has been met with criticism from BTC adherents.

Commentators on X quickly pointed to an October 9, 2018 post on X (formerly Twitter) from Ripple CTO David Schwartz, where he wrote: “A new study shows China controls 74% of bitcoin. Does that sound decentralized to you?”According to some, this post aligns with the July 2018 email exchanges, implying a collaborative PR strategy to portray Bitcoin as highly centralized.

Prominent Ripple critic Pierre Rochard, Vice president of Research at mining giant Riot Platforms, reacted on X:

“I don’t respect David Schwartz, Ripple, or XRP. For the past decade, their marketing strategy to hype their pre-mined altcoin has been to buy and promote anti-bitcoin disinformation while pretending that banks want to use XRP (they don’t). They’ll say and do anything to advance their centralized garbage ‘technology’ that has zero utility.”

Rochard added that Ripple’s Garlinghouse did his best to paint Bitcoin as controlled by China and bad for the environment. But the truth, according to him, ultimately won while Garlinghouse lost.

Notably, Ripple has a notorious history of firing shots at Bitcoin. Back in 2022, furious Bitcoiners scoffed at Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen after he launched a crusade aimed at forcing a BTC code change to a consensus mechanism less taxing on the environment.